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Polychrome
Polychrome is a sky fairy and the sweetest and merriest of the daughters of the Rainbow, and the most reckless. Description Polychrome is radiant and beautiful with golden hair and violet eyes. She wears flowing, fluffy robes of soft material like woven cobwebs colored in stripes of violet, rose, topaz, olive, azure, and white that melt one into the other. Her flowing hair is loose and floats around her in a cloud. She eats very little compared to mortals. Her diet consists of dewdrops, mist-cakes, and cloud-buns. History When Dorothy Gale, the Shaggy Man, and Button-Bright first met Polychrome she was dancing to keep warm after accidentally sliding off her father's rainbow and landing on the surface of the Earth. Her father had withdrawn his bow without realizing she'd been left behind. She traveled with the companions across the Deadly Desert into the Land of Oz and eventually arrived with them at the Emerald City where she attended Princess Ozma's birthday party. At the end of the party her father extended his rainbow and she returned home. (The Road to Oz) When the rainbow later set down on Sky Island, Polychrome recognized Button-Bright who was stranded there. She left the rainbow for an hour or two to help the boy and his friends, Trot and Cap'n Bill, before returning to her home in the sky. (Sky Island) Polychrome was stranded upon the earth for a second time and encountered the Shaggy Man again (though they didn't seem to recognize one another), along with Betsy Bobbin, Hank, and Ozga the Rose Princess. She accompanied them to the Nome Kingdom to rescue the Shaggy Man's Brother, and there the Nome King was captivated by her and invited her to stay in his Kingdom and make him happy. She refused and helped depose the Metal Monarch. When they found the Shaggy Man's Brother, Polychrome agreed to kiss him to break a spell of ugliness that Ruggedo had placed upon him, saying that she had never kissed a mortal man in all her thousands of years. (Tik-Tok of Oz) Book Appearances * The Road to Oz (first appearance) * Sky Island * Tik-Tok of Oz * Grandpa of Oz * The Wizard of Oz: Dark Witch Rising book one Rainbow's Emissary Background Polychrome is more a decorative than an active presence in The Road to Oz, but she makes positive contributions in her subsequent appearances in Baum's fictions. In Tik-Tok of Oz (1914) she summons the dragon Quox to rescue the captured Ozians from the Nome King. In The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918) she rescues the rusted Captain Fyter the Tin Soldier by oiling his joints, just as Dorothy had done for the Tin Woodman in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and she uses her magic to let the protagonists fit through a rabbit hole. In Sky Island (1912) she provides the solution to the central characters' main problem. She re-appears in some of the books of Ruth Plumly Thompson. In Grampa in Oz she aids the main characters in finally reaching Oz for the climax of the story. In The Wizard of Oz: Dark Witch Rising book one - Rainbow's Emissary by Mike LaMontagne, Polychrome returns to Oz to warn Dorothy that her cousin, Boomer, has come to Oz to claim the magics of the deceased Wicked Witch of the West. She travels with Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger to stop her cousin before he can use the magics against the rest of the Sky Faeries. Polychrome may have originated in a similar figure in Baum's dramatic treatment Prince Silverwings. In that play, Nuna, daughter of the Storm King, is missing from the ranks of her sister Cloud Maidens. Change the names and the result is Polychrome and her situation. In turn, Polychrome had a clear influence of Jack Snow's Princess Chrystal. In Other Media Polychrome appears among the crowd in the final Oz scene of Disney's Return to Oz.http://www.waltdisneysreturntooz.com/Cor_Poly.jpg She is played by Cherie Hawkins in an uncredited role.Internet Movie Database, "Cherie Hawkins" She is depicted in silky robes, though much plainer than depicted in the book. The only distinguishing mark that she is Polychrome is the rainbow that she wears on top of her head. References Category:Oz Book Characters